"Extreme couponing" tips delivered TV show regular to The Hope Center in Jersey City Heights

LAUREN CASSELBERRY/JOURNAL PHOTOJONI MEYER-CROTHERS from the TLC show "Extreme Couponing" gives tips during a visit Saturday to the Hope Center in Jersey City.

Joni Meyer-Crothers thinks no one should pay retail for items. A regular on TLC’s “Extreme Couponing,” Meyer brought her money-saving tips and tricks to Jersey City on Saturday.

“The idea behind extreme couponing is to stockpile your groceries by using coupons when items are on sale so you never have to pay retail prices for your groceries again,” she told The Jersey Journal. “This way, you save money and give yourself a financial boost. Plus, through your savings you can share the blessing with others.”

Meyer-Crothers, who is also religious, was spreading the gospel of couponing to roughly 200 people at The Hope Center in Jersey City Heights on Saturday.

The best way to use coupons is to stockpile as many as possible, and to use them when an item is on sale, she said.

“You can get $3,000 worth (of items) for $100 if you do it right,” she said.

Audience members jotted down tips. For example, expired coupons can be used by families stationed overseas for six months after the expiration date.

Meyer encouraged her audience to sign up for store reward programs and take advantage of coupons when they are valid because the savings won’t appear again for eight to 12 weeks.

“It is so important to be able to bring in for the community, and local shelters,” said Liz Cintron, director of the arts academy at The Hope Center and the organizer of Saturday’s event. “We can learn how to serve the community and work together as a local church to help.”